What is a Tornado? How is a Tornado Formed? Tornado Facts | Tornado Facts for Kids | Tornados

Ever wondered how tornadoes form? What does a tornado look like? What causes a tornado? Are there different types of tornadoes? Where do tornadoes occur? or even looking for a tornado definition? Then look no further, this video is full of tornado facts - everything from What is a tornado to How long do tornadoes last is answered.

So what is a tornado? The first thing that comes to the mind - whether of an adult or a child - when tornadoes are talked about is "spinning" since it is delivered in the easiest way to kids as being a "spinning wind". A tornado is a violent spinning tube of air, it extends from the base of a thunderstorm to the earth's surface and it touches both the ground and a cloud above.

Have you ever thought about the reason why some spinning games at the amusement parks are referred to as tornadoes, cyclones or twisters? This goes back to the real tornado that is known to be a natural disaster since it is not just known as a tornado, but it is also known as cyclone and twister.

How do tornadoes form? Tornadoes from from thunderstorms, or at least most of them do. When the warm and cool air meet, moist and dry together, they create instability in the atmosphere, a change in the air direction and speed in the altitudes, which causes the air to swirl, rising air from the ground and puts it up to the swirling air and takes it over, the funnel of the swirling air begins to suck up more warm air from the ground, the funnel goes further and stretch towards the ground and when it touches the ground it becomes the tornado which we see at the end.

We all know that tornadoes appear in the form of swirling air but it does not always appear in the same way, sometimes it appears as a funnel, other times it appears as a thin rope and there are those with the smoky look to them, there are also those tornadoes that have multiple vortices which are thin small tornadoes rotating around which sometimes are not invisible and clear.

How do tornadoes stop? Actually it is not yet understood how do tornadoes stop and tornado experts are still trying to solve this puzzle.

There are different weather conditions that could be the cause of tornadoes and one of these examples is the supercell thunder storm which is the largest and most severe type of single cell thunderstorm that usually produce loads of hail, torrential rain and strong winds, and these thunderstorms could actually cause very violent tornadoes with winds that exceed 200 MPH.

There are different types of weather conditions that come under the name of tornadoes, such as the water spout which is the weak spout tornado that forms over the water and which are mostly common over the gulf coast and they sometimes move on land that could actually lead to some losses.

There is also the dust devil which generally forms in the hot sun in the early morning or even in the early afternoon hours, these are usually harmless and were triggered by light desert breezes and they create a swirling bloom of dust. The devil dust is different from the tornado because it is not attached to a thunderstorm or any cloud and it is usually very weak.

The measurement of the strength of tornadoes is important because it will help people to know the amount of damage it might cause for them to take the precautions needed or at least know of what they might pass by. People might not know about the appearance of a tornado before it occurs but it could suddenly happen without giving them the chance to take the needed precautions.

Tornadoes could actually cause a lot of damage depending on how far they could actually reach and travel. Most tornadoes travel a few miles before exhausting themselves, but there are also those extreme tornadoes that could travel much further, sometimes they travel 100 miles. One of the famous tornadoes out there is the Tri-State tornado that traveled from Missouri to Illinois to Indiana back in 1925 and left a path of destruction behind over 219 miles long.